Laura Weintraub_Limnotech

Water Resource Sustainability Metrics and Tools for the Energy Sector Laura Weintraub, PE
LimnoTech
ENV•VISION
Environmental Vision - An International Electricity Sector Conference
May 10 -11, 2016 • Washington, DC
World Economic Forum, 2015: “Water crisis are a top global risk”
World Energy Council, 2016: “…lack of location‐
specific knowledge on water issues”
Water Sustainability Risk Factors
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Water supply
– Drought frequency
– Seasonal variability
– Floods
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Water demand
– Competitive demand
– Projected growth
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Water quality
– Impacts ofelectricity production
– Impacts toelectricity production
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Regulatory/water rights
– Over appropriations
– Inter‐basin or inter‐state compacts
– Conflict
Water Stress relates to both water quantity and water quality
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Broadly Assess Risk
Quantify
Global Data and Visualization
Water Metrics for the Energy Sector
Water Resource Sustainability
Assessment and Reporting
Analyze
Basin Scale Decision Support
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Engage, Implement, Certify
Water Stewardship Standard
Broadly Assess Risk: Global Data and Visualization
Tool
EarthStat Water Depletion
WRI Aqueduct Baseline Water Stress
Definition
Fraction of renewable water consumptively used for human activities
Ratio of total annual water withdrawals to total available annual renewable supply
Spatial and Temporal Scale
Annual but integrates seasonal and dry year depletion; 143,563 watersheds globally (~HUC‐6 to HUC‐8 resolution)
Annual, other metrics for inter‐annual / seasonal variability; similar but slightly coarser resolution than EarthStat
General Equation
Important Assumptions
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Website
Includes surface water and renewable groundwater
Accounts for reservoir storage, regulation and evaporation (1,875 large impoundments)
Seasonal / dry year depletion categories provides more accurate depiction shortage
Does not account for inter‐basin transfers or env. flows
http://www.earthstat.org/
EarthStat Water Depletion
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Surface water only
Does not account for storage
Does not account for inter‐basin transfers
Does not account for environmental flows
Includes projections of water stress with climate change
http://www.wri.org/our‐work/project/aqueduct
WRI Aqueduct
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EarthStat Water Depletion
Brauman et al., 2016
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Quantify: Water Metrics
• Identify quantitative metrics that relate electric utility freshwater use to associated risks and impacts • Use scientifically‐based water metrics to consistently measure and report water use to a variety of audiences
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Benchmark current company performance
Determine current and future water‐related risk (or lack of)
Voluntary sustainability reporting Track performance over time
Inform effective water stewardship response Collaborators:
Wendy Larson, LimnoTech
Bob Goldstein, EPRI
Jessica Fox, EPRI
Water Metrics Investigation
• Prioritized, tiered and streamlined metrics
• Investigated scientific basis of metric components
– Context‐based metrics most useful for assessing sustainability • Applicability of each metric
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Relevance to facility and waterbody type
Appropriate spatial and temporal scale
Required input data
Potential for aggregation across multiple facilities
Limitations
Water Metrics for the Electric Power Sector
Category Metric
Demand / Total Demand
Quantity Risk Tier 1
Operational Incidences
Demand / Available Supply
Permit Noncompliance
Operational Curtailment
Water Quality Intake Risk
Quality Risk
Water Quality Discharge Risk
Consumption Ratio
Use Efficiency
Tier 2
Freshwater Use Minimization
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Use Intensity
Degraded Water Ratio
Recycling ratio
Question Addressed
How does my water use relate to all uses in the watershed?
How does my water use relate to available supply? Is my facility facing regulatory risk due to water withdrawal or discharge permit violations?
Is my facility facing operational risk due to power generation curtailment events?
Is the available water of an acceptable quality compared to the needs of the facility? What proportion of available water quality capacity is reduced due to the facility discharge? What proportion of water withdrawn by my facility is consumed?
What is my facility’s water use efficiency (withdrawal or consumption) relative to electricity generated? What proportion of water withdrawn or consumed is from a degraded water source?
What proportion of the required fresh water withdrawn is recycled within my facility?
Applicability of Water Metrics
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Heat Map to Aggregate Metrics and Identify Water Stress, Risk, and Impact
Risk Category
Heat Map is preferred over a single quantitative index
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Thresholds
Unacceptable
X > 1 High
1 > X > 0.8
Med
0.8 > X > 0.2 Low
0.2 > X
Applications and Audiences for Metrics
• No single metric tells a complete “ water story”
• Each metric may speak to a different audience and serve a different purpose
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Identify Water Stress and Risk
Operations
Identify Impact
Investors
Provide Context
Regulators
Benchmarking
Local Community
Stakeholder Communication
Disclosure Reporting
Analyze: Basin Scale Decision Support System
• Fine scale understanding of water use in the context of supply
– Verify water quantity risk
– Explore competing demand across sectors
– Encourage stakeholder collaboration
• Computes system water balance on regional scale
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Evaluate consumption and withdrawal risk Explore water saving strategies Consider environmental flow limits
Examine tradeoffs with various water saving strategies and other sectors
Water Prism
Water Prism Big Cypress‐Sulphur Basin, TX
Scenario: retire coal‐fired unit, increase muni/industrial/ag efficiency (per 2012 Texas Water Plan)
Lake O’ the Pines
• make‐up water for 3 electric power plants
• supplies a variety of municipal users
• tributary water use is irrigation, manufacturing and hydraulic fracturing
Increase in violation of water management objectives due to increasing water use demands
Reduction in violations of water management objectives due to a reduction in water demand
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Engage, Implement, Certify: AWS International Water Stewardship Standard
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What is water stewardship?
– “…the responsible use of freshwater that is socially and economically beneficial as well as environmentally sustainable…”
– Water Stewardship ≠ only improvement of operational water efficiency
– Often focused on actions “outside the fenceline”
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What is the AWS Standard? – A globally‐consistent, ISEAL compliant standard that outlines the expectations of responsible water stewardship
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Why was it developed?
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International consistency Recognition of leaders
Mechanism to simplify water risk mitigation for sites and investors
Support supply chain risk management
Credible validation of water stewardship claims
Integrative framework and common language
Engage, Implement, Certify: AWS International Water Stewardship Standard
AWS Standard Steps and Continuous Improvement
Water Stewardship Plan that links:
• Site risk • Shared water challenges
• Desired outcomes of water stewardship
 Good water quality
 Sustainable water balance
 Healthy important water related areas
 Good water governance
Option for third‐party verification
Source: http://www.allianceforwaterstewardship.org/
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Application of the AWS Standard
• Piloted tested AWS Standard at Great Lakes industrial facilities (CGLI, LimnoTech, NCASI, 2014)*
• The Water Council (Milwaukee) is the official North American regional partner for AWS
• Several corporations committed to applying the AWS Standard
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* Project funded by the Great Lakes Protection Fund (GLPF)
Challenges with Water Sustainability Metrics and Tools • Challenging to capture the complexity of water
– Highly technical exercise
– Context is key • Both quantity and quality should be evaluated to identify water stress
• Use caution when aggregating metrics for external benchmarking
– Highly dependent on power plant cooling water system type and geography
• Detailed analysis requires higher level of resources
• Building a business case can be difficult
– Not necessary regulatory driven
– Understanding return on investment can be helpful
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Opportunities with Water Sustainability Metrics and Tools
• Can help demonstrate cases of low water risk
• Some metrics can be used as leading indicators
– Identify potential future risk
– Demonstrate progress towards water goals
• Using a variety of metrics can tell a complete “water story”
– Support initiation of a broader water stewardship effort
– Expand disclosure submittals using context based metrics (footnotes, appendices) – May help tell a positive story •
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Stewardship outside the fenceline and stakeholder engagement may help to mitigate future reputational or regulatory risk
Summary of Tools and Methods
• Support both internal risk assessment and external disclosure
• Application is not ‘one size fits all’ • Different ranges of complexity and resource needs for each method
• Where to start may depend on drivers
– Operational concerns
– Investor communication
Broadly Assess Risk
Quantify
Global Data and Visualization
Water Metrics for the Energy Sector
Water Resource Sustainability
Assessment and Reporting
Analyze
Basin Scale Decision Support
Engage, Implement, Certify
Water Stewardship Standard
• Broad assessment for fleet  Detailed assessment at select facilities
• Information from one method should support other methods
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You’ll know “sustainable electricity” because. . . ….Water Risk will be well managed…
• Electric power generation will have less reliance on freshwater, especially in water stressed areas • Power plants will not curtail generation due to water availability or water quality issues
• Electric utilities will actively collaborate with stakeholders to improve water quality, support sustainable water balance and protect ecosystem needs
Laura Weintraub, PE
lweintraub@limno.com 501 Avis Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
734.332.1200
www.limno.com
Additional Information
WRI Aqueduct: http://www.wri.org/our‐work/project/aqueduct
EarthStat Water Depletion: http://www.earthstat.org/
Water Prism:
www.epri.com Search product IDs: 1023771 (Water Prism Vol. 1: Tool Development) 3002002120 (Water Prism Vol. 2: Prototype Applications) 3002003755 (Water Prism Vol. 3: Enhancements and Western U.S. Prototype Application)
Alliance for Water Stewardship: http://www.allianceforwaterstewardship.org/
Great Lakes Protection Fund Industrial Water Stewardship Study
http://cgli.org/projects‐2/industrial‐water‐stewardship/